Stereotype threat effects have been demonstrated in many
studies using different tests and tasks. However, research has also shown that performance
deficits can be reduced or eliminated by several means.

Reframing the task

One method that has been shown to reduce
stereotype threat is to "reframe" or use
different language to describe the task or test
being used. Stereotype threat arises in
situations where
task descriptions highlight social identities
stereotypically associated with poor performance. Modifying task descriptions so that
such stereotypes
are not invoked or are
disarmed can eliminate stereotype threat.
Stereotype
threat based on gender, for example, can be reduced either by ensuring females
that a test is gender-fair (e.g.,
Quinn &
Spencer, 2001;
Spencer,
Steele, and Quinn, 1999) or by
explicitly nullifying the assumed diagnosticity
of the test (Steele
& Aronson, 1995). Of course, removing
the diagnostic nature of a test is
unrealistic in regular course
examinations or in standardized math testing
situations. In such cases,
stereotype threat can be reduced by directly
addressing the specter of gender-based
performance differences within the context of an
explicitly diagnostic examination (Good, Aronson
& Harder, 2008). Simply addressing the
fairness of the test while retaining its
diagnostic nature can alleviate stereotype
threat in any testing situation. Specifically,
testing procedures could include a brief
statement that the test, although diagnostic of
underlying mathematics ability, is sex-fair (or
race-fair).

Deemphasizing threatened social identities

Another method for reducing stereotype threat
is to modify procedures that heighten the
salience of stereotyped group
memberships.
Stricker
and Ward (2004), for
example, conducting a study for the Educational
Testing Service (ETS) provide evidence that
simply moving standard demographic inquiries
about ethnicity and gender to the end of the
test resulted in significantly higher
performance for women taking the AP calculus
test (see
Danaher & Crandall,
2008). Though these effects
were statistically modest, these effects could
be substantial
and significant when generalized to the
population of test-takers. If the ETS were
to implement this simple change
in testing procedures, it is estimated that an
additional 4,700 female students annually would
receive Advanced Placement credit in calculus
(see
Danaher & Crandall,
2008).

Encouraging individuals to think of themselves
in ways that reduce the salience of a
threatened identity can also attenuate stereotype
threat effects.
Ambady, Paik, Steele,
Owen-Smith, and Mitchell (2004),
for example, showed
that women encouraged to think of themselves in
terms of their valued and unique characteristics
were less likely to experience stereotype threat
in mathematics. Rydell,
McConnell, & Beilock (in press)
showed that contextual cues reminding female
undergraduates of their status as college
students (a group that is expected to do well at
math) eliminates gender-based stereotype threat. Encouraging individuals
to think of characteristics that are shared by ingroup and outgoup members,
particularly characteristics in the threatened
domain (Rosenthal,
Crisp, & Suen, 2007), also appears to
preclude the development of stereotype threat in
conditions that normally produce it (Rosenthal
& Crisp, 2006). Gresky, Ten
Eyck, Lord, and McIntyre (2005)
used a method that increased the sense of
self-complexity by prompting women
to make self-concept maps that either had few
nodes (reflecting the person's "most basic or
fundamentally important characteristic") or many
nodes (reflecting "a complete description" of
the person). Compared with individuals who
did not make self-concept maps or those who made
simple maps, only women who made complex
self-concept maps were unaffected by a
stereotype threat manipulation involving math.
Moreover, women who were highly identified with
math performed as well as men if they had
asserted complex self-representations. So,
it appears that interventions that encourage
individuals to consider themselves as complex
and multi-faceted can reduce vulnerability to
stereotype threat.

Of
course, all people have multiple identities, and
the degree that a social identity is highlighted
for which there exists a stereotype in a domain,
the higher the vulnerability to stereotype
threat. To demonstrate how to combat this,
McGlone
and Aronson (2006) varied social
identity salience by having students complete
questionnaires that focused on different social
identities. Differences in men's and women's
performance on a gender-linked task were
greatest when the questionnaires focused on
their sex and smaller when they inquired about
other social identities. Therefore, highlighting
social identities that are not linked to
underperformance in a domain can attenuate
stereotype threat. Another interesting
example of this phenomenon comes from recent
research involving individuals with biracial
identities (Shih,
Bonam, Sanchez, & Peck, 2007).
This work shows that individuals with biracial
identities are more likely to believe that race
is socially constructed, and these individuals
are also less likely to show performance
decrements under conditions that usually produce
stereotype threat. Moreover, individuals who
were induced to disagree with the notion that
race is socially constructed (and more likely to
agree that race is rooted in biology) were most
likely to show stereotype threat effects in
performance.

Though
using different specific techniques, these
studies all use methods that
reduce the salience of identities that are tied
to poor performance in a domain. Emphasizing the
idiosyncratic valued characteristics,
characteristics shared with other groups, other
identities, or complex identities all appear to
reduce the salience of a threatened identity.
Reducing the salience of a threatened identity
appears to serve a
protective function, supporting continued high
performance for those individuals already identify
with the domain in question.

Encouraging
self-affirmation

A general means for
protecting the self from perceived threats and
the consequences of failure is to allow people
to affirm their self-worth. This can be done
by encouraging people to think about
their characteristics, skills, values, or roles that they value or view as important
(Schimel,
Arndt, Banko, & Cook, 2004).
Frantz, Cuddy, Burnett, Ray, and Hart (2004),
for example, showed that Whites who were given
the opportunity to affirm their commitment to
being nonracist were less likely to respond in a
stereotypic fashion to an implicit measure of
racial associations that had been described as
indicative of racial bias.
Martens, Johns, Greenberg, and Schimel (2006)
provided evidence that encouraging women to
self-affirm eliminated performance decrements
that typically arise when stereotypes about
gender differences in mathematics and spatial
ability are invoked. Moreover, these effects are
not limited to the laboratory.
Cohen,
Garcia, Apfel, and Master (2006) described two field studies in which
seventh grade students at racially-diverse
schools were randomly assigned to self-affirm or
not to self-affirm as part of a regular
classroom exercise. For students who
self-affirmed, they were asked to indicate
values that were important to them and to write
a brief essay indicating why those values were
important. For students who did not
self-affirm, they indicated their least
important values and wrote an essay why those
values might be important to others.
Although the intervention took only 15 minutes,
the effects on academic performance during the
semester were dramatic. As reflected in
their end-of-semester GPAs, African-American
students who had been led to self-affirm
performed .3 grade points better during the
semester than those who had not. Moreover,
African-Americans who self-affirmed showed lower
accessibility of racial stereotypes on a word
fragment completion task. These results
cannot be explained in terms of teacher
expectancies since self-affirmation was
manipulated within classes (i.e., some students
affirmed whereas others did not in the same
class) and teachers were unaware which students
had affirmed. European-American students
showed no effects of affirmation. The
salutatory consequences of self-affirmation appears to arise because self-affirmation alleviates
psychological threat imposed by fear of
confirming stereotypes of poor performance.

Emphasizing high standards with assurances about
capability for meeting them

In
situations involving teaching and mentoring, the
nature of the feedback provided regarding
performance has been shown to affect perceived
bias, student motivation, and domain
identification. The effectiveness of
critical feedback, particularly on tasks that
involve potential confirmation of group
stereotypes (e.g., when an outgroup member
provides an evaluation involving a
stereotype-relevant task), varies as a function
of the signals that are sent in the framing of
the feedback. Constructive feedback appears
most effective when it communicates high
standards for performance but also assurances
that the student is capable of meeting those
high standards (Cohen,
Steele, & Ross, 1999).
Such feedback reduces perceived evaluator bias,
increases motivation, and preserves
domain-identification. High standards and
assurances of capability appear to signal that
students will not be judged stereotypically and
that their abilities and “belonging” are assumed
rather than questioned.

Providing role models

Thoughts
about outgroup members whose performance is
superior in a domain can interfere with
performance.
Huguet & Régner
(2007),
for example, showed that girls' performance on a
math test in a mixed-sex environment was
negatively related to their thoughts about
specific men who perform well in mathematics.
However, providing role models demonstrating
proficiency in a domain can reduce or even
eliminate stereotype
threat effects (Blanton,
Crocker, & Miller, 2000).
Marx & Roman (2002;
see also
Marx, Stapel, & Muller, 2005)
showed that women performed more poorly than men
(and showed lower state self-esteem) when a math
test was administered by a man but equivalently
when the test was
administered by a woman with high competence in
math. They also showed
that these effects were due to the perceived
competence, and not just the gender, of the
experimenter. Marx
and Goff (2005) varied the race of a
test administrator and showed that Black
individuals were less aware of stereotype threat
and less affected by it in terms of their test
performance when the
administrator was also Black. Moreover, McIntyre and his
colleagues (McIntyre,
Lord, Gresky, Ten Eyck, Frye, & Bond Jr., 2005; McIntyre,
Paulson, & Lord, 2003)
showed that even reading essays about successful
women can alleviate performance deficits under
stereotype threat. Some intriguing evidence
shows that a focus on Barack Obama can
eliminated typical stereotype threat effects,
although these results occurred only at times
when Obama's successes were particularly obvious
and received positive media attention (Aronson,
Jannone, McGlone, & Johnson-Campbell, in press;
Marx, Ko, & Friedman, in press).

Their evidence suggests that providing even a single role model that
challenges stereotypic assumptions can eliminate
performance decrements under stereotype threat.

Providing external
attributions for difficulty

One
reason that stereotype threat harms performance
is because anxiety and associated thoughts
distract threatened individuals from focusing on
the task at hand. Several studies have shown
that stereotype threat can be diminished by
providing individuals with explanations
regarding why anxiety and distraction are
occurring that do not implicate the self or
validate the stereotype.
Ben-Zeev, Fein, and Inzlicht (2005)
provided proof of this principle by telling some
women who were to take a math test in the
presence of men that they would be exposed to a
"subliminal noise generator" that might increase
arousal, nervousness, and heart rate. Women who
were given this means to explain the arousal
produced by stereotype threat performed as well
as men, in contrast to women who were not
provided with an external attribution to account
for their anxiety. A more practical example
illustrating benefits of external attribution is
offered by
Good, Aronson, and Inzlicht (2003).
These researchers had mentors emphasize to young
students that the transition to middle school is
often quite difficult and that challenges can
typically be overcome with time. Encouraging
students to attribute struggle to an external,
temporary cause eliminated typical gender
differences in math performance. Finally, some
research has examined the effects of blatantly
identifying and disarming the anxiety that
arises from stereotype threat.
Johns, Schmader, and Martens (2005),
for example,
taught students about the possible effects of
stereotype threat before they took a math
test. Students were told, "it's
important to keep in mind that if you are
feeling anxious while taking this test, this
anxiety could be the result of these negative
stereotypes that are widely known in society and
have nothing to do with your actual ability to
do well on the test." This instruction
eliminated stereotype threat effects in women's
math performance. Another study (Johns,
Inzlict, & Schmader, 2008)
showed that telling individuals under stereotype
threat that their performance will not be
hindered and might even be improved by the
anxious feelings they might be experiencing
eliminated the performance decrements associated
with stereotype threat. These studies indicate
that providing individuals
with an external attributions or
effective strategies for regulating anxiety and
arousal can disarm stereotype threat.

Emphasizing an incremental view of intelligence

Beliefs about the nature of ability influences a host of variables including motivation
and achievement in the face of challenge or difficulty.
Some individuals tend to believe that
intelligence is fixed, not changing over time or across
contexts (an “entity theory”). Because they believe that
ability is fixed, entity theorists are highly concerned
with messages and outcomes that supposedly reflect their
"true" abilities (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Dweck & Sorich,
1999). When facing challenges, entity theorists tend to
demonstrate lowered focus and task avoidance. Others
tend to view intelligence as
a quality that can be developed and that it changes across
contexts or over time (an “incremental theory”).
Incremental theorists tend to be more focused on
improving rather than proving ability to themselves or
others (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). When facing challenge,
incremental theorists are likely to increase effort to
further learning and to overcome obstacles (Dweck
& Sorich, 1999; Mueller & Dweck 1998). Although
many studies have treated implicit theories of ability
as individual difference variables, studies have shown that these
beliefs themselves can be altered (at least on a
short-term basis) by modifying how abilities are
described and the specific nature of praise (e.g.,
by praising effort rather than ability).

Research has shown that
individuals with an
entity orientation (either temporarily or chronically) are more likely to experience
(Sawyer
& Hollis-Sawyer, 2005)
and to be affected behaviorally by stereotype threat (Goff,
Steele, & Davies, 2008),
but that, conversely, an incremental view can reduce stereotype
threat. Aronson, Fried,
and Good (2002)had undergraduates
write a letter of encouragement to a younger student who
was experiencing academic struggles. Black
students who
were encouraged to view intelligence as malleable, "like
a muscle" that can grow with work and effort,
were more
likely to indicate greater enjoyment and valuing of
education, and they received higher grades that
semester.
Good, Aronson, and Inzlicht (2003)
showed similar effects with 7th grade students who
received mentoring from college students. Mentoring
emphasizing expandable intelligence and external
attributions for difficulty produced higher reading
scores and eliminated gender differences in mathematics
performance.In
addition, a recent study that experimentally manipulated
the entity and incremental messages in the learning
environment showed similar findings
(Good, Rattan, & Dweck, 2007b). In this study,
students were randomly assigned to one of two
learning environments in which they watched an
educational video that taught new math concepts from
either an entity or an incremental perspective. They
then solved math problems under either stereotype threat
or non-threat conditions. Results showed that when
females learned the new math concepts with an entity
perspective, they performed less well on the math test
in the stereotype threat condition than in the
non-threat condition. However, when they learned the new
math concepts portrayed from an incremental perspective, there
were no differences between the stereotype threat and
the non-threat conditions on the math test.

Moreover, encouraging
an entity theory even appears to harm performance. For
instance, attributing gender differences in mathematics
to genetics reduced performance of women on a math test
compared with conditions in which differences were
explained in terms of experience (Dar-Nimrod
& Heine, 2006;
see also Shih,
Bonam, Sanchez, & Peck, 2007)
or effort (Thoman,
White, Yamawaki, & Koishi, 2008).
In other words, the concern with confirming abilities
believed to be fixed or biologically-determined can
interfere with one's capability to perform well.

These studies suggest that stereotype threat can be
reduced or even eliminated if an incremental view of
ability is emphasized. Doing so involves emphasizing the
importance of effort and motivation in performance and
de-emphasizing inherent "talent" or "genius."
Individuals who are encouraged to think in incremental
terms will tend to react more effectively to challenge
and are less likely to fear confirming negative
stereotypes of their group.